Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
M Kishan Kumar

Abstract:
Two complete diets (roughage, concentrate ratio, 40:60) in mash form (RII and RIII) were formulated using palm press fibre (20% & 15%) and chopped jowar straw (20% & 25%) as roughage source and sheanut cake (18.5% & 28%) along with locally available concentrate ingredients and compared with conventional ration (RI) (consisting of chopped jowar straw, chopped jowar fodder and concentrate mixture, fed separately) to study their effect of the fluctuations in relative humidity (R.H) and ambient temperature on rectal temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate and daily feed intake of a total of twelve lactating graded Murrah buffaloes fed with conventional (RI) and complete feed (RII,RIII) were studied for 120 days. Thermal humidity Index (THI) was 35.56 observed during experimental period. A positive and significant correlation between ambient temperature and rectal temperature (r=0.60, 0. 61 and 0.49) was observed in rations I and II (p<0.01) and III (p<0.05). A significant negative correlation between R.H and rectal temperature (r=-0.45 and -0.51) was observed in rations RI and RII (p<0.05). A significant (p<0.01) positive correlation between ambient temperature and pulse rate (r=0.63,0.69 and 0.73) was observed in rations I, II and III respectively and significant (p<0.05)negative correlation was observed between R.H. and pulse rate (r=-0.40 and -0.43) in rations II and III.A significant (p<0.01) positive correlation between ambient temperature and respiration rate (r= 0.72 and 0.74) was observed in ration I and II, whereas negative correlation was observed in ration III (r= -0.09). A significant (p<0.05) negative correlation was observed between R.H and respiration rate (r=-0.50, and -0.51) in ration I and II and positive correlation in ration III (p<0.01). A significant (p<0.01) and positive correlation between ambient temperature and daily feed intake and DMI (r=0.41, 0.67 and0.65) and a significant (p<0.05) negative correlation between R.H and daily feed intake (r=0.35, 0.69 and-0.56) were observed respectively in rations I, II and III. The data on environmental effect indicated that non-significant differences in rectal temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate and daily feed and DM intake in lactating buffaloes fed rations RI, RII and RIII reflecting lower THI values due to low variation in micro-environmental conditions during the respective experimental periods.